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Tottenham showed character - Redknapp


Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp praised the impact of substitutes Alan Hutton and Roman Pavlyuchenko as his side came from behind to win 3-1 against Wolves.

Full-back Hutton initially earned the penalty, which Rafael van der Vaart scored to cancel out Steven Fletcher's opener for the visitors.

Striker Pavlyuchenko gave Spurs a 2-1 lead with three minutes to go before Hutton added a third in injury time.

"Having a squad is what it is all about," said Redknapp.

"Younes [Kaboul] did a hamstring and Alan came on and had a fantastic second half.

"I thought Robbie [Keane] was lively and could have scored from a couple of good chances but Pav came off the bench, we didn't see him for 20 minutes and then suddenly the ball pops up to him in the box and he sticks it away."

It was a superb end to the game for Tottenham, who were in danger of losing their third successive game to Wolves and repeating the outcome of their last Premier League game, when they lost 1-0 at home to Wigan.

Wolves threw away victory - McCarthy

Fletcher's neat finish gave the visitors a surprise lead at the end of a first half the home side had dominated but been wasteful in front of goal.

They continued to press in the second half in the face of a committed display from Wolves and were ultimately rewarded.

"It shows a lot of character when you go behind to come back," stated Redknapp. "We came in at half time 1-0 down but I felt we had played well.

"I couldn't criticise them at half time. We just switched off for the goal but other than that we created plenty of chances but just couldn't stick one away.

"Wolves aren't easy to play against. They're organised, they work hard, Mick gets everything possibly out of his team and they make it difficult."

Tottenham handed home debuts to late summer signings Van der Vaart and William Gallas and Redknapp was pleased with their performances.

"William Gallas had a good home debut today and Rafa scored and had a good home debut as well," admitted Redknapp.

"Rafa is a top class player. I was comfortable with him taking the penalty and he stuck it away.

"William got a little bit of cramp last few minutes but he's looking for fitness as is Rafa, who played three games in a week and hasn't played since the World Cup.



606: DEBATE

We didn't play well particularly first hour or so, but we did enough to get the points and thats what matters

 


mightyspurs765

"We've got to be careful with them but they've come through ok today."

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy was pleased with his team's resilient performance but admitted that they had let Spurs "off the hook".

"We gave it away," said McCarthy. "We gave them the opportunity to get back in the game.

"The penalty let them back in and then we gave the ball away, they broke on us and they get a bit of luck with the deflection. The third goal makes us look badly, when we haven't.

"Of course they are going to create chances, they're a Champions League side, but Marcus [Hahnemann] has made a couple of world class saves in the first half.

"I was pleased with the display throughout the whole game, first half in particular. People will look at the result alone and assume Champions League Spurs have done us but that's not the case."

McCarthy has been vocal in his condemnation of the accusations that his side - who picked up 13 bookings and a red card in the two games prior to this, and three more at White Hart Lane - are overly aggressive and he once again denied such suggestions.

"I'm getting sick and tired of talking about tackles," said McCarthy. "We are a good footballing side and we played well today.

"Some of the coverage we have had has been unfair. But we cant do anything about it and it'll go somewhere else soon enough."

Focus now switches to the midweek Carling Cup third round fixtures, with Tottenham playing north London rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane and Wolves come up against League One side Notts County at Molineux.

Redknapp admitted that he will be making changes to his side.

"We've got to be sensible," said Redknapp. "I've got a whole team of players who need to play football.

"They work hard every day, they're great lads and I need to see them play. There's [Brazilian midfielder] Sandro for example who has just joined us and I'm looking forward to giving him his debut